Children thrive with a good routine, but a same routine can become dull at times. However, to shift the routine and ask for students to navigate differing expectations can create challenge with regard to cognitive shifting.
I found that today. After a couple days of fairly open ended science exploration, it was time to focus in on some serious work. Many had a difficult time settling down and getting back on track with a somewhat laborious, but important task. There needed to be a lot of reminders. In general I like to teach in ways that focus almost all the time on the teaching rather than lots of rules and protocols, but when you shift the expectations too often, you need to revisit the expectations with time and care.
It's all part of the learning puzzle, a puzzle that demands good choreography to reach the goals you've set.
